Comparing storage methods and aging plastic/vinyl (MLPs, EQG, MH, and more)...

[Nemesis]

It’s time again for my annual attempt to sort and organize everything in my collection... In doing so, I’ve made some interesting observations regarding the effects of different storage methods on ponies and vinyl dolls... I would love to hear any anecdotal discoveries from others who have kept MLPs (or just toys in general) in storage for extended amounts of time! I debate with myself often on what the best/safest way to store things is...

Example 1: G1 ponies. I stored them in direct contact with each other, in cardboard boxes. Aside from a couple of easily-remedied bent horns, they came out looking fine. I’m inclined to believe that “ye olde“ vinyl toys must have used much stronger stabilizers in the plastics, as has long been discussed here...

Example 2: G3 ponies. Stored in the same way as the G1 ponies above. Out of all of them, the only color bleeding occurred when a white, early G3 (softer vinyl) pony was pressed up against an orange, later G3 Scootaloo (harder vinyl, turning head type). Everything else, including my bright orange Sparkleworks army, did fine. Has anyone else seen evidence of late G3 ponies transferring color more easily?

Aside from that, there has been the odd sticky cutie mark on the G3s, but no major problems. Most of my G3s were bought secondhand, and some had stickiness when they first arrived, so that may just be an inevitable part of how the paint sealer ages. (It clears up with a bit of dishsoap and gentle scrubbing.)

A few G3s ended up stashed away in unsealed ziploc bags for 5+ years, and seem to have suffered no ill effects (other than some wasps that decided to crawl into the bags and die—what a fun surprise that was).

Example 3: Equestria Girls. I’ve kept my EQGs in a few different places, depending on when I bought them and packed them up. The most obvious thing I’ve noticed is that the original wave of EQGs (much like early G4 ponies) AGE HORRIBLY. My first wave Pinkie now has a completely orange head, with no trace of the original color. Rarity’s head has yellowed badly, and Celestia’s head from the doll/pony set has turned off-white. Comparatively, my later wave dolls of the same characters look perfect. I had the originals stored in unsealed, acid-free, foodsafe bread bags (not Ziploc type, but a more crinkly, clear plastic). The Rainbow Rocks and later waves were stored identically in the same box, and suffered no ill effects. Other EQGs were kept in a sunless room on open shelving, or stored stacked on top of one another (no bags or tissue) in a cardboard box. No method seems to have caused more deterioration than another.

Upon doing some investigating, I discovered NIB EQGs on Ebay who had severe head/body mismatch. Does anyone have a Wave 1 Pinkie or Rarity without this problem? It seems to have happened to basically every doll I’ve seen for sale.

Example 4: Monster High. I have hundreds of these, and they really run the gamut in terms of aging. Sometimes white vinyl yellows, as with Rarity/Celestia, other times white HAIR turns an icky grey-yellow color. My Meowlody and Purrsephone suffered the hair issue, but were exposed to sunlight on occasion from their shelf. On the other hand, I’m also seeing yellowing of both hair and plastic in dolls that have been in dark, sealed cardboard boxes for years (some bagged, some not). I can’t see any differences between the dolls who were bagged, and those who were simply stacked. As far as my observations go, neither has affected the aging process. Meowlody and Purrsephone did yellow earlier (presumably) from exposure to mild sunlight. Dolls that were in direct contact with each others‘ hair sometimes had gel/product stuck to them, but it cleans up fine.

Example 5: Transformers (various ages). Definitely the easiest to store—no pesky vinyl to change color on you (not most of the time, anyway). Came out of storage looking brand new after being stored in plastic breadbags for years.

Would love to hear what you guys have discovered, and what works best for you in terms of storage! I’ve long heard that you should never leave plastic in contact with other plastic, for fear of fumes and gases being given off that could accelerate aging... I’m curious about what types of plastic were involved in these cases. The bread bags make storage so much easier, and I haven’t seen any negative effects... Does anyone have personal experience with this?

[MintyMyndi]

Example 3: Equestria Girls. I’ve kept my EQGs in a few different places, depending on when I bought them and packed them up. The most obvious thing I’ve noticed is that the original wave of EQGs (much like early G4 ponies) AGE HORRIBLY. My first wave Pinkie now has a completely orange head, with no trace of the original color. Rarity’s head has yellowed badly, and Celestia’s head from the doll/pony set has turned off-white. Comparatively, my later wave dolls of the same characters look perfect.

My collection is still small enough for me to display most of it, but I'm sad to say that my Pink and Fabulous Pinkie Pie has suffered the same orange-headed fate. She and Dress-Up Fluttershy (who was secondhand) are the only pegfoots I own, but I recall turning my nose up at the original Pinkie doll at a thrift store in my home state for that reason. I'm thinking of trying to fade her back to normal with hair bleaching cream, but I'm not sure how to safely cover her glitter (same goes for my ivory Starshine and inked-up Baby Glory). If anyone has tried this, I'd like to know how it went!

As for a positive of storage, I returned many of my ponies to their packages when I moved rooms last year. While some are still in their packages to this day, my 35th Anniversary scented Rainbow Ponies were boxed for a little over a week. When they came out, they smelled as strong as day one! Scented ponies may benefit aroma-wise from at least mostly-sealed packages (the Rainbow boxes had holes for sampling the scents), but I have heard that it can accelerate discoloration. They and Soda Float are my only intentionally-scented ponies, and Soda just smells like plastic- bagging her up did nothing. Oh well.

[BlackCurtains]

Interesting! Thanks for sharing

I have a bunch of Definitely Dinosaurs from the 80s when I was a kid. They were made with two types of plastics, a hard one for the bodies and softer for limbs, tails, fins, etc. I stored them together, touching each other, in a large plastic tote. The hard parts yellowed on many of them and the softer parts are sticky and have some of the worst age spots I've ever seen.

My G1 LPS are stored in sandwich bags in a plastic tote. Most of them are fine, but a few have gone sticky.

Any other long term stored toys are either okay or I haven't been able to check on them. I wonder about my original Puppy in my Pockets. As far as I remember they are all together in a grocery store bag in another plastic tote with my different vinyl animal figures (I worry about those too).

My ponies are stored right now as yours are, jumbled together in cardboard boxes with a few exceptions. My G3 Tangerine Twinkle is wrapped in acid free paper since she had gone sticky. My ponies with curled hair I put in open sandwich bags. I wouldn't store them long term in baggies, but I think they'll be fine for a couple months.

[tailrustedtealeaf]

Wow, really interesting to note about the EQG! I totally sold all of mine on an impulse, and am sort of glad now that I did. I did recently acquire some from a Goodwill lot, but they seem to be from the 2nd movie set at least, maybe 3rd...I forget.
My ponies are all displays out in the open, touching each other even if ever-so-slightly. I haven't noticed anything that's happened while I own them.
Also interesting that Scootaloo bled onto another pony, I don't think we hear too much about G3 deterioration so that's cool to know.

[banditpony]

I dunno.

Toys aren't made to last, and plastic doesn't seem to be a stable. I think it's important to store (and display) toys in a humidity and temperature controlled environment to slow the inevitable aging process..

I had my childhood toys stored in a grocery bag in a basement for approximately 5+ years and the result was gross and sticky.

When I moved to my house, I decided to sell a few toys. I tossed them all in a plastic bin (brand new). There were a few 80s ponies, a couple takara fakies, 1 G4, some newer japanese gacha toys... They were touching. I did not put put the lid on, they were kept in the dark, in the downstairs closet. I didn't get to the toys as fast as I thought I would, and most of them were sticky in under a year.

So I feel personally hesitant to use plastic in storing my toys..

[LadyAmalthea]

My collection is still small enough for me to display most of it, but I'm sad to say that my Pink and Fabulous Pinkie Pie has suffered the same orange-headed fate. She and Dress-Up Fluttershy (who was secondhand) are the only pegfoots I own, but I recall turning my nose up at the original Pinkie doll at a thrift store in my home state for that reason. I'm thinking of trying to fade her back to normal with hair bleaching cream, but I'm not sure how to safely cover her glitter (same goes for my ivory Starshine and inked-up Baby Glory). If anyone has tried this, I'd like to know how it went!

It has been my experience that Baby Glory sunfades really well to bright white! I have my second one fading in my window now, and she is looking really good. I don't know about ink marks though...it can't hurt to try.

Post Merge: October 20, 2020, 08:51:36 PM

Interesting to read your (and everyone else's) experiences with this. I have been very lucky, myself...my childhood ponies were stored very carelessly and haphazardly for many years, first in my parents' dank basement, loose in clothes baskets for decades. Then when I got married 10 years ago, I 'borrowed' them for my stepkids to play with, and stored in the gross, humid basement of my husband's house for a couple years, then subsequently moved in boxes with us when we moved out west, where they remained packed up for 4 years. Then moved back cross-country again, and deposited back in said dank parents' basement for another couple years until there was a flood. The ponies that survived are in surprisingly good shape, at least as far as their plastic is concerned (their hair has seen better days!). Little to no regrind on anybody, no stickiness or plasticizer leakage, despite being jumbled together and stored in pretty much the worst conditions possible. One pony had something that looked like pin-dot mildew on her, but really, most of them managed to dodge a bullet. Not sure how I got so lucky.

[LadyMoondancer]

I've kept my ponies (all gens) in individual ziplock baggies, with the baggies stored in cardboard boxes, for years.  The baggies don't seem to increase the risk of plasticizer leaking or stickiness.  (But that's not to say it prevents it either.)  Very rare for one of them to turn sticky, and when it does happen it's usually with a pony that's prone to it (like Gingerbread) and I think that's just inevitable.

Anyway, I mostly store them that way because it keeps their hair neat and prevents glitter symbols from rubbing on anything.  I also store my Transformers like that because they are even more prone to paint rubs, especially any with vacuumized chrome.

I've always kept the boxes in my apartment(s) so they don't undergo extremes of heat or cold, which is probably more important than the baggies or boxes. 

[Taffeta]

I think the ponies of mine that are in attic storage (and sister's) are swathed in acid free paper. Some are in unsealed baggies as well. So far no casualties. Fingers crossed.

Oh, Naynie's Daisy Dancer has massive beige splotches across her body which happened while she was in storage, but we put that down to acne cream used by her previous owner/seller and which didn't activate on her colouring right away. She was in storage for 8 years by the time we noticed and hauled her out - she was only in with one other pony and that pony is unaffected. Daisy Dancer now lives in quarantine with a carebear

Naynie's are from G1-3, mine are G2 and G3. All my G1 ponies are stored in my room.

I have noticed the MH aging thing on certain dolls, also in cardboard boxes some of them have more hair goop issues than they seemed to have when I displayed them. I was about to sort through my dolls when COVID happened so right now I have a bunch in limbo, but  I did notice that when I moved some around.

[Featherwurm]

Really great info!

I think local climate really effects how plastic, rubber, and vinyl do in the long term too.  My childhood heard of G1s and their accessories - stored jumbled in the (insulated) attic for some 20 years in a cardboard box all came through the process just fine - but this is in coastal southern California where the air tends to be warm, dry, and mild through most of the year.  (They are currently stored loose in a bedroom closet until I have room to display them but seem to still be fine.)  My displayed G1s/G3s up here in coastal Oregon also seem to do fine on their shelf, though I've only had them few years and they are not my childhood herd, so previous exposures are unknown to me (I also don't have any of the ponies that are generally noted to be more fragile in color).  It's quite cooler and more damp than where I grew up and mold is a battle everywhere, but as they're not somewhere wet they seem to be fine.

It would be interesting to note what your local climate is like along with these long-term storage descriptors.

[BlackCurtains]

Yes, I agree. Climate definitely makes a difference. It's why I always ask any pony customs I commission to NOT be sealed with Mod Podge. It will always go sticky here (SW Florida). I've had a few ponies get head/body mismatch in the time I've had them when they were fine when I got them. My old room at my parents house, that I lived in for 13 years, was the hottest room in the house. A lot of things were ruined, some actually disintegrated including a wireless PS2 controller

Although I'm in the same city, my apartment is much cooler and dryer so I hope it can curb any damage done in the past.

[Taffeta]

Climate-wise in my case, the UK midlands, which is a fairly mild climate. The attic probably does go from hot to cold over the year so some concern about that. The ponies in my room are well ventilated and my room has an outside wall - the cupboard is always cold with air circulation.

We do have humidity and heat here but nothing in the range of some of the extremes seen overseas. The temperature can get to 30 in the summer, and we do have a damp winter climate. I have had one issue with a leaking gutter/outer wall spread mould into the top shelf of one of my cupboards (not ponies) - damaged some books, so everything in there is now in watertight containers (including MH accessories and my Breezies).

[Shy Violet]

I haven't noticed any problems with my G1's which had been in storage for 15 years or the G3's which are still in a plastic bin (I should probably check on them). They were always stored in my parents basement and then my own basement when I had my own house. My climate is very dry, and we get anywhere from -30 celsius in the winter to +30c in the summer but the basement is always quite cool.

My Monster High dolls were stored stacked in cardboard boxes with layers of fabric between them (I sew) and all look great still. My Meowlody and Persephone have yellowed hair as well but they were stored in their box, inside a cardboard box until about 2 years ago and were like that when I unboxed them. So I don't think it's necessarily the sun that causes that. The other thing I've noticed while going through all my boxed MH dolls this past week is 2 of them look like they have sweaty faces. I haven't opened them yet to see if they're sticky but that is weird. They have been in a cardboard box for years too.

[Wardah]

My Meowlody and Persephone have yellowed hair as well but they were stored in their box, inside a cardboard box until about 2 years ago and were like that when I unboxed them. So I don't think it's necessarily the sun that causes that. The other thing I've noticed while going through all my boxed MH dolls this past week is 2 of them look like they have sweaty faces. I haven't opened them yet to see if they're sticky but that is weird. They have been in a cardboard box for years too.

Some of the heads have glue in them. That glue could have softened and leaked out.

[MintyMyndi]

My Meowlody and Persephone have yellowed hair as well but they were stored in their box, inside a cardboard box until about 2 years ago and were like that when I unboxed them. So I don't think it's necessarily the sun that causes that. The other thing I've noticed while going through all my boxed MH dolls this past week is 2 of them look like they have sweaty faces. I haven't opened them yet to see if they're sticky but that is weird. They have been in a cardboard box for years too.

Some of the heads have glue in them. That glue could have softened and leaked out.

Since MH/EAH dolls are being brought up, I might as well share my hair glue removal method. It's a combination of multiple methods I've seen online and it's quite effective. I've only done it three times, because I only have three gluey dolls; in fact, I only have a few baits in total, as I don't collect these but like the idea of customizing them. One of them could've used a repeat treatment, but all three improved significantly. Other Mattel dolls, such as Barbie, can suffer from this as well. If you have greasy/gluey hair on any of these, you should try to remove it (at your own risk) so that it doesn't get onto anything else (her clothes, other dolls, etc.). More may seep out in the future, so check on them occasionally and repeat the treatment as necessary.

I'll put the instructions in a spoiler so they won't eat this entire thread:

Spoiler

YOU WILL NEED:
Talcum baby powder
Fine-toothed comb
Wide-toothed comb or brush (if detangling is necessary). I use a G3.5 MLP brush.
Paper plate, baking tray, etc. to keep powder contained
Mask (I skipped this and regretted it)
Spray bottle (optional, but helps retain curls vs. holding hair under running tap)
Head & Shoulders shampoo*
Conditioner of your choice
Nasty-haired doll

First, set up a space to work, like a paper plate, and put on a mask so you don't breathe in the baby powder. Strip the doll naked to spare her clothes from what's about to happen. Pour baby powder directly onto her head. Part her hair several times to make sure you get her roots/scalp. Make sure her hair is fully saturated; you may wish to extend this to areas of her head/body afflicted with this glue.

Comb the baby powder into her hair; try not to stretch out tangles. This is quite tricky, so be patient. BE CAREFUL! This glue could be the glue holding her hair in place, and seepage causes it to weaken. You wouldn't want to pull out any chunks. If necessary, dunk her head into the powder pile on the plate to pick up more powder. Once her hair is fully powdered, leave her for twenty-four hours to let the glue absorb into the powder.

The next day, wash her hair with the shampoo. Don't forget to scrub her scalp! Comb the hair while it's shampooey to get rid of all of the gluey powder. If it's curly, comb the curls around your finger to maintain them; you may wish to wet/rinse curly hair by misting it with a spray bottle, as it's more gentle than running water. Once the hair is rinsed, condition it, comb the conditioner through, and rinse once more. Set the hair how you want it to lay; for curls, lay the doll down to let them "pile up" to keep the weight off of them until they're dry.

Once the doll is dry, assess the hair. If it is still gluey, you may wish to repeat the treatment. Otherwise, clothe her and return her to her storage/display/toybox. She's not nasty anymore!

*Head & Shoulders is a dandruff shampoo. Dandruff can be caused by a dry scalp or an excessively oily one. I believe Head & Shoulders is made for the latter, and its degreasing properties are why it works so well here. Dawn Dish Soap may also work, but I haven't tried it. Its degreasing properties make it a quite effective dandruff shampoo (and stain remover! It saved a plush who was peed on by Domino's garlic knots!). My mom shared this fact with me; at her cosmetology school, they called it the "blue shampoo." And yes, I use it. It's wonderful. I pair it with cheap Suave conditioner, and my hair is soft and shiny and everything. This is veering off topic... If you try Dawn, let me know how it works!

[Shy Violet]

My Meowlody and Persephone have yellowed hair as well but they were stored in their box, inside a cardboard box until about 2 years ago and were like that when I unboxed them. So I don't think it's necessarily the sun that causes that. The other thing I've noticed while going through all my boxed MH dolls this past week is 2 of them look like they have sweaty faces. I haven't opened them yet to see if they're sticky but that is weird. They have been in a cardboard box for years too.

Some of the heads have glue in them. That glue could have softened and leaked out.

Since MH/EAH dolls are being brought up, I might as well share my hair glue removal method. It's a combination of multiple methods I've seen online and it's quite effective. I've only done it three times, because I only have three gluey dolls; in fact, I only have a few baits in total, as I don't collect these but like the idea of customizing them. One of them could've used a repeat treatment, but all three improved significantly. Other Mattel dolls, such as Barbie, can suffer from this as well. If you have greasy/gluey hair on any of these, you should try to remove it (at your own risk) so that it doesn't get onto anything else (her clothes, other dolls, etc.). More may seep out in the future, so check on them occasionally and repeat the treatment as necessary.

I'll put the instructions in a spoiler so they won't eat this entire thread:

Spoiler

YOU WILL NEED:
Talcum baby powder
Fine-toothed comb
Wide-toothed comb or brush (if detangling is necessary). I use a G3.5 MLP brush.
Paper plate, baking tray, etc. to keep powder contained
Mask (I skipped this and regretted it)
Spray bottle (optional, but helps retain curls vs. holding hair under running tap)
Head & Shoulders shampoo*
Conditioner of your choice
Nasty-haired doll

First, set up a space to work, like a paper plate, and put on a mask so you don't breathe in the baby powder. Strip the doll naked to spare her clothes from what's about to happen. Pour baby powder directly onto her head. Part her hair several times to make sure you get her roots/scalp. Make sure her hair is fully saturated; you may wish to extend this to areas of her head/body afflicted with this glue.

Comb the baby powder into her hair; try not to stretch out tangles. This is quite tricky, so be patient. BE CAREFUL! This glue could be the glue holding her hair in place, and seepage causes it to weaken. You wouldn't want to pull out any chunks. If necessary, dunk her head into the powder pile on the plate to pick up more powder. Once her hair is fully powdered, leave her for twenty-four hours to let the glue absorb into the powder.

The next day, wash her hair with the shampoo. Don't forget to scrub her scalp! Comb the hair while it's shampooey to get rid of all of the gluey powder. If it's curly, comb the curls around your finger to maintain them; you may wish to wet/rinse curly hair by misting it with a spray bottle, as it's more gentle than running water. Once the hair is rinsed, condition it, comb the conditioner through, and rinse once more. Set the hair how you want it to lay; for curls, lay the doll down to let them "pile up" to keep the weight off of them until they're dry.

Once the doll is dry, assess the hair. If it is still gluey, you may wish to repeat the treatment. Otherwise, clothe her and return her to her storage/display/toybox. She's not nasty anymore!

*Head & Shoulders is a dandruff shampoo. Dandruff can be caused by a dry scalp or an excessively oily one. I believe Head & Shoulders is made for the latter, and its degreasing properties are why it works so well here. Dawn Dish Soap may also work, but I haven't tried it. Its degreasing properties make it a quite effective dandruff shampoo (and stain remover! It saved a plush who was peed on by Domino's garlic knots!). My mom shared this fact with me; at her cosmetology school, they called it the "blue shampoo." And yes, I use it. It's wonderful. I pair it with cheap Suave conditioner, and my hair is soft and shiny and everything. This is veering off topic... If you try Dawn, let me know how it works!

Thanks for the tips! I'll have to give it a try